Coconut-Tomato Soup with Collard Greens, Mushrooms, and Yams

I'm very fond of this soup and apparently the rest of the VegFam is too because this batch didn't last very long; 36 hours at the max.

Soups are great because you can use just about anything in them and still call it soup. And if you run across a recipe that sounds great but you find yourself sans the same ingredients, or the recipe calls for that one ingredient you can't stand, just change that shit. For instance, you don't like mushrooms? Sub in chickpeas. Don't know what collard greens are? Call in kale for the big game. Does vegetable broth really chap your ass? Bring two cans of coconut milk to the pot. Seriously, the possibilities are endless and no matter how many ingredients you change, in the end you still have soup.

I'm sure you've already made up your mind that you have to try this soup and I support this, but what I don't support is throwing the stems of your favorite greens away when you start prepping your food. Whether you use collard greens, or kale, or broccoli, make sure to chop up those discarded stems and throw them in the pot when you start cooking your onions. You won't regret the extra boost in vitamins. And you certainly won't regret cutting back on waste.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and pop your yams (or sweet potatoes) in there until they're tender (somewhere between 30-45 minutes probably).

Get a tablespoon of oil real hot in a large saucepan; add the onion and collard green stems and cook until soft (5-8 minutes). When the onions are starting to brown and the stems are soft, add in the chopped shrooms and all your spices.

When the shrooms look tender enough, remove the mushmix from the saute pan and transfer to a mixing bowl so you can use the same pan to cook the collards and finish the soup. When the sauce pan is hot again add in your thinly sliced greens. After a few minutes they should start wilting and that's when you're going to add in the chopped tomatoes, cubed yams, coconut milk, and broth. Bring to a simmer and add the mushroom mix back in; let cook for about 3-5 minutes.